Ron Digirolamo limped in early position, the player to his left limped as well, as did the button and small blind. The big blind checked, and the players saw the flop five-handed. The dealer spread . Both blinds checked, and Digirolamo bet 19,000. Action folded around to the big blind, who tanked for a minute before raising all in. Digirolamo called instantly and turned over for second pair. His opponent revealed for the nut flush draw. The turn and river came , , and the flush did not complete. The big blind was eliminated and Digirolamo now has 205,000.
After his stack took a few early hits here on Day 2 of the Seniors Championship, the always entertaining Young Ji never lost his confidence, telling our PokerNews Live Reporting team "I'll be back baby!"
Ji proved that prediction to be spot on, after winning a recent hand with his "master" Tommy Vedes standing behind him in support. You may remember Vedes as the winner of the 2009 WPT $15,000 No-Limit Hold'em Championship ($1,218,225), and with this accomplished poker pro sweating him, Ji woke up with and found a way to trap both players into risking their stacks.
When one of those players with all of his chips in the middle saw Ji's holding, he said "we're in big trouble buddy," flipping over the to show Ji that they shared the same hole cards.
"No we're not," was Ji's only reply. "No we are not."
With two pairs of aces going up against the tabled by the third player, who happened to have both Ji and the other opponent covered, everybody at the table stood in anticipation, waiting to see if the final board would be kind to the mother of all poker hands.
When the dealer rolled out the , Ji clapped his hands in celebration, turning back to Vedes to commiserate over the sick sweat. Vedes patted his friend on the shoulder in encouragement, telling the man now known as Young Ji-Z to keep running good before heading off to no doubt play a few hands of his own.
With the chopped pot win, Ji regained his status as one of our chip leaders, and the Amazon Room just got a little more exciting as Day 2 marches onward.
Just a few hands after doubling with aces, Richard Gross called the all in of his opponent for about 17,000 with . His opponent held and off to the races they went.
The board came and the sixes of Gross were good enough to win the pot and eliminate his opponent.
Gross is the father of Jeff Gross, a professional poker player, who has been proudly tweeting about his dad throughout the day.
With the Seniors Championship field shrinking seemingly with every deal, we've noticed that the number of women still holding chips has remained relatively steady.
One of those women looking to add a gold WSOP bracelet to their jewelry box is Beth Gains, a recreational player who goes by the name of "betyamama" on PokerStars. Gains authored a blog chronicling her journey to achieve the coveted Supernova status on PokerStars, and with her deep run here in this year's Senior Championship, she will have plenty to write home about.
Gains has quiety moved her chip stack above the 125,000 mark, and with the shorties shipping it all around her, her stack has afforded plenty of room to maneuver.
We will be sure to track Gains' progress as Day 2 continues, to see if she can make it back-to-back female champions in this event.
We arrived at the table on the river just as James Miller's river bet was called. Miller turned over . He had rivered a flush to vault ahead of his opponent's . Miller seems unstoppable, and is now up to 420,000.
Beth Gains raised to 11,500 preflop, and Joe "XYZ" Aronesty re-raised all in. Action folded around to Gains, who thought for only a few moments before calling. As she was thinking, Aronesty said he had a feeling this would be his last hand. He turned over , while Gains held . Aronesty was favored, but the flop changed his fortunes, coming . The ten proved to be enough for Gains, as the on the turn and the on the river didn't help Aronesty.
John Strzemp lost one of the most memorable hands in poker history, when Stu Ungar spiked a deuce on the river to make the wheel straight, completing The Kid's astounding comeback from personal turmoil to triumph at the Main Event for a record third time. Playing outdoors for the first and only time in World Series of Poker history, that hand cemented Ungar's legacy as one of poker's true prodigies, while Strzemp was relegated to footnote status in the game's history books.
Today, Strzemp is trying to navigate an enormous field of seniors to make his return to the WSOP final table stage, and he recently found himself all-in for his tournament life. As fate would have it, he would be dodging the wheel straight yet again.
After jamming his last 22,000 over the top of a 9,000 opening raise, Strzemp was called by James Miller, who held nothing but the . The 1997 Main Event runner-up was in good shape with his , but as he learned the hard way on the hot Fremont Street pavement one fateful day 16 years ago, nothing is decided until the river card falls.
The flop came down , and although the wheel was out of the question, Strzemp could not have liked to see the drop in on the turn. With one card between him and a double up, Strzemp was impassive, perhaps knowing he had already suffered the worst bad beat he'll ever take. Sure enough, the came on the river, and Strzemp secured the double despite a bit of unwanted sweat.